


To All the Pigeons I Loved Before

by Scriberat



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Pigeons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 16:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18673009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scriberat/pseuds/Scriberat
Summary: Koumei has always loved pigeons since his first meeting. These are a few snapshots of his memories for the Month of Mei in 2019





	To All the Pigeons I Loved Before

**Author's Note:**

> pidge

_ Calm down,  _ Koumei thought, staring at the creature before him. It was the most amazing, most wonderful, most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

 

_ He had to know what it was. _

 

"Mr. Guard, what is that?" the tiny three-year-old asked, pointing to it. It had a shiny head.

 

"That's a pigeon. They're used as messengers by the army," the guard explained. Koumei gasped. He toddled over to the bird, dropping to his knees as he reached the grass it was pecking through. It stared at him. He stared back. Then he kept crawling forward.

 

It hopped backward. Koumei's heart broke. Did it not like him? What did he do wrong? It didn't want to be friends with him. He started crying.

 

"Young Master Koumei, what's the matter?"

 

"It doesn't want to be friends!" he sobbed.

 

"Aw, it's just frightened because you appeared so suddenly. Come on. Let's get some bird feed and entice it over," the guard said, holding his hand out. Koumei sniffled.

 

"Bird feed…?"

 

"Right! Birds have special food they eat. There's some at the aviary. We can go there and get a small sack for it." That calmed Koumei down considerably. He had another chance!

 

They went to a part of the palace that Koumei had never been in before. The guard opened a door to a room that was filled with pigeons and went to a sack in a separate room.

 

Koumei screamed loudly and ran into the aviary proper, spinning around and around until he fell on the ground, laughing all the while. His guard dashed to the door, then started chuckling as he saw the boy overcome with emotion. It was good to see this kid looking so lively. Many in the palace thought that Koutoku's second child wouldn't survive long, as he refused to go anywhere.

 

"Mr. Guard, there are a whole bunch of pigeons!"

 

"That's right. And there are a lot more that travel to the front with our soldiers when we need them."

 

"The front? The front of what?" Koumei asked, his eyes big and innocent and… so like his own son's. The guard licked his lips and smiled.

 

"The front of our country. We send people there so they can talk through problems with people from Gai and Gou. Sometimes we have to share ideas with people in other parts of the country to make sure we're all talking about the same sort of stuff," the guard said. It was a way to explain that would keep his son from worrying about him when the time came that  _ he _ started asking, too.

 

Koumei sat up and looked at the guard. "Mr. Guard, you don't have to lie. People go to war and die. I already know that," he said.

 

"You… do?" Who told this kid about war that he was so confident about at  _ this _ age!?

 

"Yep! And then they come back because they can't fight anymore!"

 

Oh.

 

"Yeah, that's right! Let's go and feed that pigeon now!"

 

"Okay!"

 

~~~~•~~~~•~~~~

 

"Hey, Young Master Koumei! Remember the first pigeon you met?"

 

"Yes?" Koumei looked up to see the man who had been keeping an eye on him for ages coming over with a big smile on his face.

 

"He just had a baby with his mate. Come and see!" Koumei smiled widely and put his book aside, dislodging himself from the small flock that had begun clustering around him. It had been two years since he had met that particular pigeon.

 

Down at the aviary, the pigeon was perched near a nest with another. Inside the nest was a tiny baby bird, only just getting its fluff. Koumei thought the little thing was gorgeous. He reached a hand out to it, only to be bit by the mother.

 

"Hey!"

 

"The baby is still new. She's gonna be protective of it," the guard explained.

 

"Oh. Does it have a name?"

 

"Not yet. Do you want to name it?"

 

"Yeah." Koumei thought for awhile about it, then nodded. "Taimei."

 

"Taimei?"

 

"Right. I'm Koumei because my father uses 'Kou' for his kids. So I'm gonna use 'mei' for mine."

 

"Young Master, this is a pigeon--"

 

"--and now he's my son. My Taimei." The guard could only chuckle and shake his head.

 

"Oh. Mr. Guard, I don't know your name. What is it?"

 

"Qirong, Young Master."

 

"Mr. Qirong?" Koumei asked, climbing down from the nest.

 

"Yes?" Qirong asked.

 

"Thanks for showing me the pigeons," he said, smiling. Qirong smiled back.

 

"You're welcome, Young Master Koumei."

 

~~~~•~~~~•~~~~

 

"That can't be! He was going to sneak us out to see the festival when he got back!"

 

"I'm sorry, Young Master Koumei, but it's true. Qirong is dead."

 

Koumei bit his lip, tears welling in his eyes. He shook his head, then ran.

 

"Young Master! Young Master, please come back!"

 

He hated war! He hated war! It stole his friend away from him without warning! He hated it! He hated feeling this way. Without thinking, Koumei had run right to the aviary and curled up in a corner. The pigeons recognized him instantly as the one who always fed them, and several came down to check on him.

 

Coos surrounded him, and more than one pigeon landed on him. Koumei reached out to pet one. It was Taimei, now a year old with beautiful plumage. He cooed happily at Koumei's touch, but it only made Koumei's heart ache more. The first time he had heard his pigeon son coo was also when Qirong was around.

 

There would be no more memories like that.

 

~~~~•~~~~•~~~~

 

"Ah! Koumei!" Hakuren shouted, holding up Koumei's limp body. Koumei started drooling as his brother apologized to Hakuyuu for his antics.

 

"I'm taking him to his room!" Hakuren shouted, picking up the nine-year-old and hoisting him over his shoulder suddenly. Then he ran off, leaving a shocked Hakuyuu and mortified Kouen behind.

 

"It's okay, Koumei, we'll get you cured lickedy split!" he shouted, tearing through the halls toward Koumei's room. He threw the door open to find the place covered in pigeons --- not just the birds, but carvings and paintings of them, too. He stopped and stared.

 

"Thanks for the ride," Koumei said shamelessly. He got down and went to his bed, curling up instantly with his book. Hakuren stared at him, completely dumbfounded, and slowly realized he had been played like a fiddle.

 

A slow smirk spread across his face. This kid was going to suffer.

 

"Koumei, you shouldn't expend so much effort! Reading is awfully strenuous. Hang on, I'll read to you," Hakuren said, clearing some pigeons off of a chair. He took the book and started reading at a slow pace, slower than he was learning to read.

 

Koumei stared at him, then got bored of listening to him crawl through it and started petting as many pigeons as possible.

 

"You're not listening to me read?"

 

"Nope."

 

"Why not?"

 

"The cure only works if  _ I _ read. This is just gonna make me sicker."

 

"Here. You read, then." And so Koumei did. As his brother and eldest cousin came into his room, Koumei read the book he had been so entranced with. A few of the pigeons landed on Hakuren, including Taimei.

 

~~~~•~~~~•~~~~

 

"Prince Koumei, your magical message system works brilliantly! But… what are we going to do with all these birds now that we no longer need them?"

 

"Feast time!" someone shouted. Koumei glared at them.

 

"These pigeons are mine and under my protection. Anyone who tries to harm them will be punished. Is that understood?"

 

"Yes, your highness!"

**Author's Note:**

> PIDGE


End file.
